Our Values

We SEEK to understand the mysteries of Christ and the Triune God.

We SHARE our faith, our gifts, and our lives.

We SERVE our local and global communities.

First United Church of Christ is a progressive Christian voice in Northfield. We are bound together by a covenant and a common purpose, not by uniformity of belief or doctrine. And we are part of the United Church of Christ, a dynamic Protestant denomination that has often been a leader in extending the Good News of the Gospel to all people.

As we live our faith together, these values help define what it means for us to be a progressive Christian church.

Continuing Testament. Our faith is 2,000 years old, but our thinking is not. We worship a God who invites our whole being, head and heart, into the life-giving path of Christian discipleship. God spoke through our ancestors of faith, and God is still speaking today. We honor all that we know about our world today, and we listen carefully to our ancestors and to one another to hear what God is saying in our time.

Social Justice. We are committed to working for economic, racial, and gender equality. We are guided by visions of God’s realm on earth: a realm where everyone is accepted as they are, everyone is valuable, everyone is enough. Taking steps towards this realm will lead us toward a true peace, a Just Peace.

Extravagant Welcome. We are an Open and Affirming church of the United Church of Christ, meaning that we strive to be welcoming to all people, including the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community.

Caring for God’s Creation. As Christians, we are called to care both for other human beings and also for the creation on which we depend. Humans are altering the earth’s climate, and we are committed to working with others who are trying to lessen the effects of these changes on human beings and creation.